Guardian Blames Cops|for Teen’s Injuries

SAN JOSE (CN) – After disabling a teenager by shooting him in the head with a rubber bullet, Santa Clara police sicced a dog on him, leaving him with permanent brain injuries, his guardian claims in court. Guardian ad litem Mark Calhoun sued Santa Clara, its police department and two officers on Nov. 13 in Superior Court, on behalf of his ward A.C. A.C. was 16 years old and drunk on the night of July 7-8, 2012 when friends asked him to leave a party, Calhoun says in the complaint. Sometime that night he cut his hand. “Lost, confused and frightened,” A.C. called 911 “and told the dispatcher that someone was trying to kill themselves [sic],” according to the complaint. The first officer who arrived, nonparty Paul Garces, radioed that A.C. was “holding a knife to his own throat,” the complaint states. A.C. kept the knife at his own throat as 14 officers and a police dog arrived, Calhoun says. He claims that defendant Officer Mike Horn fired a rubber bullet at A.C. and hit him in the thigh, then a second one that his him in the head and knocked him out. Defendant Officer Nathan Crescini then unleashed a police dog on the unconscious teen, who bit him severely. He was handcuffed and was taken, unconscious, to a hospital, where he was put on a ventilator for five days before he regained consciousness, according to the complaint. Calhoun seeks punitive damages for negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and assault and battery. He is represented by DeWitt Lacy with the Law Offices of John Burris in Oakland, who could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday.